Collating and binding systems are well known in the printing industry for mass producing booklets, magazines, catalogues, advertising brochures and the like. Typically, one or more sharply folded and generally pre-printed blanks or signatures are sequentially fed by a number of spaced signature feeders. The signatures are delivered such that the signatures come to rest upon a collating conveyor line which travels past the signature feeders. The conveyor gathers the signatures, one on top of the other, and moves them to a binding station. The assembled signatures then are usually diverted to a trimming station and further led to a labeling station where mailing labels are affixed.
Prior art systems of this type contemplate the computer controlled production of various demographic editions of books or catalogues of internal and external (cover) signatures containing individually tailored information or customized printing on selected signatures. This flexibility is important in satisfying the demands of a particular market or geographical destination. For instance, it may be desirable to offer certain customers or subscribers various features or selected advertising depending upon their special interest, income or occupation. Likewise, it may be relevant to customize products or services contingent upon a customer's previous buying history. As an example, a publication may issue one demographic edition for parents of newborn children who have purchased baby products, another edition for farmers interested in the latest milking machines and still another edition for fitness buffs who have ordered exercise equipment.
Included in the demographic binding station is a mechanism for applying a particular external signature or cover to the gathered signatures. One example of this type of system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,816,866 issued Jun. 18, 1974 to Miaskoff et al. In this arrangement, a first cover feed assembly is provided to feed single covers to a cover conveyor. In the event of malfunctioning of the first cover feed assembly, a second cover feed assembly is activated to feed single covers to the cover conveyor. A detector is employed to prevent either a failure to feed a cover or a feeding of double covers. The single cover fed to the cover conveyor is provided with an adhesive and is then applied to a collection of signatures to form a bound book. The book is transported to a trimmer where the book is trimmed as desired and is finally delivered to a labeler to be addressed to a subscriber who is to receive the particular edition of the book.
The recipient of a book produced by the aforedescribed system may experience the partial obliteration of the cover information, artwork or photography caused by the size and position of the mailing label. In addition, the unprotected cover may arrive torn, watermarked, folded or otherwise violated. Some attempts have been made to alleviate these problems by variously encasing or wrapping the bound book in plastic or the like and then applying the mailing label to the wrapper off-line. However, this scheme has not only been expensive but poses an environmental problem because of the slowly degradable nature of the wrapping material.
Accordingly, it is desirable that a demographic bindery system preserve a greater degree of integrity of the finished book, provide a cost efficient design offering different types of covers, and allow for a protective, disposable wrapper which is environmentally acceptable.